Monoclonal antibody-based therapies in cancer: Advances and challenges

Conventional anticancer therapeutics often suffer from lack of specificity, resulting in toxicities to normal healthy tissues and poor therapeutic index. Antibody-mediated delivery of anticancer drugs or toxins to tumor cells through tumor selective or overexpressed antigens is progressively being recognized as an effective strategy for increasing the therapeutic index of anticancer drugs. In this review we focus on three therapeutic modalities in the field of antibody-mediated targeting, including antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), immunotoxins (ITs) and immunoliposomes (ILs). Design considerations for development of each of the above therapeutic modalities are discussed. Furthermore, an overview of ADCs, ITs or ILs approved for use in clinical oncology and those currently in clinical development is provided. Challenges encountered by the field of antibody-based targeting are discussed and concepts around development of the next generation of antibody therapeutics are presented. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.